Hey guys,
Heading up rotorua with my partner and a young one on a fishing trip the 1st of December.

Going to be the first time fishing from a kayak for them so should be interesting...

Any advice on fishing these lakes from a kayak this time of year?
Will be my first time on new kayak with a elite 7 sounder
What should i be looking for on the sounder?
Got jigging gear, lead line, spinners and fly fishing gear

Any advice would be appreciated.

Most likely going to take caravan to rotoiti, any locals recommend a good camp grounds close to the lake?

The lakes (jigging) is fairly slow at this time of the year until the water temp increases a bit.

The fish and smelt are quite spread out and could be anywhere in the water column unlike when the water is warm with a good thermocline.

I have been out a couple times this season briefly (we've had a lot of wind lately) and managed a few but quite slow fishing. I and a lot of others have found the fish near the bottom in 25-30m mark in a few places. Darker flies have been working better than smelt flies but will still pay to rig a grey ghost on the top (grey ghost catches 90% of my fish in summer).

I use a lowrance elite5 chirp. Here is a screen shot of a few trout on the sounder....A bunch of trout sitting in the 20-25m mark under a band of smelt (summer photo).

There are a bunch of different spots to try and is generally somewhere to go to hide from the wind. I live here and will try to get out and show you a few if you like. There are several spots within 10mins paddling distance from launching areas. Bite times lately have been early morning and for about an hour.

I have done a trout jigging 101 video for people wanting to give it a crack. Video was done in a boat but I use the same techniques, gear and sounder when on the kayak. I don't achchor in the kayak but slow paddle to keep the flies in the zone where the fish are, that I have marked on the sounder.